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Amphibious Creature

Amphibious creatures belong to neither air nor water and are native to neither land nor sea. Bogs, swamps, and mires—whether hot, mild, or frozen—are their homes. An amphibious creature breathes both air and water and is comfortable in both. It has slick-looking, smooth skin and large eyes that
gather light, granting it clear vision even in the murk of muddy waters. It also possesses fi ns or webbed appendages serving it well in water and legs allowing it to move about on land.

“Amphibious creature” is an inherited template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature that breathes air and lacks a swim speed or that breathes water and lacks a land speed (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

An amphibious creature uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Size and Type: Size and type are unchanged, but the creature gains the aquatic subtype if the base creature did not already have it.

Speed: If the base creature has a land speed but lacks a swim speed, the amphibious creature gains a swim speed equal to the base creature’s highest other speed. Its land, climb, fly, and burrow speeds each decrease by 10 feet (to a minimum of 5 feet) from the base creature’s values. Th e amphibious creature’s body shape is similar to that of the base creature but smoother to facilitate swimming, and its digits (if any) are webbed. It also gains fins in appropriate locations.

If the base creature has a swim speed but lacks a land speed, the amphibious version gains a land speed 10 feet slower (to a minimum of 5 feet) than the base creature’s swim speed. If the base creature lacked strong legs to walk on, the amphibious creature gains two or four such appendages, whichever is most appropriate for its body form.

These legs are not capable of gripping weapons and are not useful for attacking foes, but they can be used for locomotion, including climbing and jumping.

Armor Class: The skin of an amphibious creature aids its breathing both in and out of water. But because its body covering must be moist and supple to achieve this purpose, any natural armor the base creature had becomes less effective. Thus, the amphibious creature’s natural armor bonus is equal to the base creature’s natural armor bonus –2. If the base creature had no natural armor bonus, this feature of the amphibious template causes no change.

Special Qualities: An amphibious creature retains all the base creature’s special qualities and gains those described here.

• Amphibious (Ex): An amphibious creature can breathe both air and water with equal ease.
• Breathing Skin (Ex): Because an amphibious creature’s skin aids in its breathing, it takes a –2 penalty on Fortitude saving throws against gases, contact poisons, and inhaled poisons and eff ects.
• Low-Light Vision (Ex): An amphibious creature can see twice as far as a human in starlight, torchlight, moonlight, and other low-light conditions.

Abilities: Change from the base creature’s as follows: Dex –2 (minimum 1), Con +2.

Skills: If the amphibious creature gained a swim speed from the application of this template, it has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

Languages: If the amphibious creature can speak, it gains the ability to speak Aquan in addition to any other languages the base creature knows.

Environment: If the amphibious creature gained a swim speed, it also gains the aquatic and marsh terrains in its environment description. If it gained a land speed, it also gains a land terrain that would normally be found near the base creature’s normal watery habitat or the marsh terrain.

Amphibious Characters

An amphibious character favors whichever class the base creature does. If none is given, the amphibious creature favors either the druid class or the ranger class (GM’s choice) if it is intelligent.

Using the Amphibious Creature Template

Some amphibious creatures are created by magic; others are the evolutionary results of natural selection and adaptation. In either case, amphibious creatures can find homes nearly anywhere in your world. Consider using an amphibious version of a typical d20 monster or character race to give your game a unique feel.

The material below originates in a 3PP source (License).